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(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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BHP Group, up 1.6%. Jefferies raised the miner to Buy from Hold.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Wm Morrison Supermarkets, down 2.2%. JPMorgan cut the supermarket to Underweight from Neutral.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Energean, up 16%. The gas producer, which has operations in Israel, Greece and the Adriatic region, said it has signed contracts for the sale of an additional 1.4 billion cubic metre per year of gas from the Karish project, located offshore Israel. Its 70%-owned Energean Israel has signed two new gas sales & purchase agreements, which increases the total firm contracted gas sales from the Karish project to 7.0 billion cubic metre per year on plateau. The majority of gas will be supplied to the Ramat Hovav Power Plant, a partnership between the Edeltech Group and Shikun & Binui. The remainder of gas, represented by a second agreement, will be supplied to an affiliate of the RH Partnership for other existing power stations. RH Partnership was the winning bidder in the Israel Electric Corporation Ramat Hovav tender process, the second IEC power plant in a series of five to be privatised. The gas contracts are for a term of up to 20 years and contains provisions regarding floor pricing for the main plateau period and exclusivity. The annual contract quantity reduces after the first seven years following first gas from Karish.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Plus500, down 2.1%. The contracts for difference technology platform said it is confident in its outlook after an "outstanding performance" so far this year. Plus500 said the operational momentum achieved during the first half has continued into the second half to date. Revenue, in particular Customer Income, has remained strong in the second half thus far, while a "high level of new customers" have been onboarded. "While market conditions remain uncertain, macroeconomic and sector-specific newsflow continue to provide significant trading opportunities for customers. Therefore, the board remains very confident about the outlook for Plus500, particularly given the company's outstanding performance so far this year," said Plus500 in its annual general meeting statement. The FTSE 250-listed company added that it is well placed to deliver a sustainable growth in future years due to its technology, flexible and scalable business model, strong financial position and a track record of delivery against key performance metrics.
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Redrow, down 1.6%. The housebuilder reported a plunge in earnings for financial 2020 but said trading activity since the start of the new financial year has been encouraging. For the year ended June 30, Redrow posted pretax profit of GBP140 million, a 66% drop from GBP406 million recorded the year prior. The fall in profit was blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic as well as costs and impairments in connection with the scaling back of the London business. Revenue fell 37% to GBP1.34 billion from GBP2.11 billion, with completions also down 37% from 6,443 units due to the lockdown. No dividend was proposed in an effort to conserve cash. However, the Chester-based company said it expects to resume payouts in 2021, following its decision in March to cancel its interim dividend. For comparison, a final dividend of 20.5p was paid for financial 2019, taking the total payout to 60.5p. Looking ahead, Redrow noted it has seen encouraging trading since the start of the new financial year, with a record order book of GBP1.42 billion, up from GBP1.02 billion a year ago.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Tekcapital, up 32%. The Oxford-based intellectual property investor said investee Salarius has signed a distribution agreement with Gehring-Montgomery Inc to expand business-to-business sales of Microsalt across the US. MicroSalt is a low-sodium salt developed and manufactured by Salarius. Tekcapital holds a 92% stake in Salarius. The agreement between Salarius and the ingredient distributor adds another dimension to the MicroSalt strategic sales plan which includes working with best in class sales partners to increase revenue and brand awareness and an "aggressive" B2B outreach initiative to source new customers.
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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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